Thursday, July 05, 2007

Nazi U-Boat Photo Copyright?

It was one year ago today that I posted a picture of a Nazi U-Boat washed up at San-O to this blog. This morning I get an email from someone claiming to own the copyright to the photo. It’s unclear from the email if the guy in this photo is the writer or merely someone holding the framed photo for a picture. I don’t know whether to take the email seriously or if it’s intended as humor. The writer claims that he licences the photo out, but never sells it. He says that my posting it here a year ago violated his copyright. He includes a long explanation of the Copyright Act, Trademark laws, foreign treaties as concern copyrights (in case I am a foreigner, I guess - or maybe he is, I don’t know) and a formal demand for compensation. Any suggestions?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

He sure does look familiar.

Anonymous said...

Bullshirtski. That photo is from an old postcard, you can buy it (the postcard) from a guy in England.

Who IS the guy in the photo???

Anonymous said...

Maybe that's why he mentioned treaties since he's in England.

Anonymous said...

Again, bullshirtski. Fact: U-boat is from WW1, not WW2. The real deal.

Anonymous said...

Send the guy 100 Pesos and call it a day!!

Anonymous said...

Si!

Anonymous said...

reasearch boy:
nice try. that's a scam. washed up on rocks without any bow plane damage. NOT!

Anonymous said...

research boy:
close but not a match for the photo.

Anonymous said...

Of course you are both correct. Not.

Anonymous said...

Photo pilfered and retouched from my myspace http://www.myspace.com/bkdotcom

Anonymous said...

He who smelt it , dealt it,
big kook.

Anonymous said...

~~yawn~~

Anonymous said...

Follow up with him. Ask him how much money he wants for use of his copyright. Do NOT ask "how much to settle this case", because that will be a settlement offer, and might not be admissible.

Once he takes the bait, I think it is your civic duty to take him to small claims court and charge him with attempted fraud.

Because you've spent time and effort in trying to discover his fraud, you should try to recoup a reasonable amount of money from him, say $500-$1,000 or so.

Oh, and yes, this is the same boat, and you can easily see where the photoshopping (clone tool) was used:
http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/7433/you.jpg

Moon Phase